So you're saying there's a chance Ubaldo Jimenez could return to the Indians in 2014

It's been five weeks since Ubaldo Jimenez declined the Indians' qualifying offer of $14.1 million.
The starting pitcher, whom many of us expected to land a lucrative multiyear contract, remains a free agent, and ESPN's Buster Olney says there has been little interest in Jimenez on the market.
The reasons, according to Olney, are simple.
Teams — as Kyle Lohse and others discovered last offseason — are hesitant to sign free agents who are attached to draft picks, as Jimenez is. (Any team that signs the big right-hander in free agency would have to surrender a high pick.)
The other reason given for the lack of buzz surrounding Jimenez is an all-too-familiar one for anyone who watched him pitch in Cleveland the last three years: his inconsistency.
“If you sign him, you're not sure what you're buying,” an American League talent evaluator told Olney.
All of which brings up an interesting question that Olney and Yahoo's Jeff Passan addressed today: Could Jimenez return to the Tribe?
That brings up two questions in my mind:
1. Would Jimenez be willing to sign a one-year contract?
If not, I doubt the Indians would be willing to pay him, say, a “bargain” rate of $20-plus million over two years.
2. Would the Indians — in a stance Olney said the Cardinals took with Lohse last year — rather have a high draft pick than Jimenez, regardless of how long he remains a free agent?
If they bring back Jimenez, they would forfeit the compensation to which he is tied.
When I spoke with Tribe manager Terry Francona last week for a profile that appeared in Crain's 2013 Newsmakers section, I asked him about the Tribe's mostly timid offseason.
“You don't know (what's going to happen),” Francona said. “You sit around at the winter meetings and have a lot of strategies, and Chris (Antonetti, the Tribe's general manager) is great at that. You really don't know what's going to happen. You sit around and wait.”
That's the beauty of Jimenez lingering on the market.
The longer he stays there, the better the chance his price drops.
Lohse eventually received a lucrative contract last offseason — he signed a three-year, $30 million contract with the Brewers — but that wasn't until March 25, and it was for less money than expected.
The Indians played an effective wait-and-see game with outfielder Michael Bourn in early 2013.
They seemingly came out of nowhere to sign the All-Star from the Braves as spring training was set to begin in mid-February.
That doesn't mean Jimenez is coming back to the Tribe.
And it doesn't mean he won't still command a contract of $40 million or more this offseason.
But the longer he's out there, the longer he has to think about how Tribe pitching coach Mickey Callaway helped revive his career in the second half of the 2013 season.
And maybe — just maybe — playing one more year for the Tribe — and being paid eight figures to do so — won't seem like such a bad idea.

Tribe tries to hit it big with another lefty

The Tribe reduced their outfield surplus a bit with Wednesday's trade of Drew Stubbs to Colorado for reliever Josh Outman.
My first thought after I heard the news: Outman is another project for the well-regarded Callaway.
Outman primarily was a starter with Oakland in 2008, 2009 and 2011.
His best season was 2009, when he was 4-1 with a 3.48 ERA in 14 games (12 starts). He posted a 1.16 WHIP and struck out 53 batters in 67 1/3 innings that season.
He struggled mightily as a reliever with the Rockies the last two seasons.
In 2013, he had a 4.33 ERA and 1.46 WHIP, but he did record almost as many strikeouts (53) as innings pitched (54).
Outman, who recently turned 29, is a lefty, and the Tribe made an effective 2013 trade for a southpaw reliever who had fallen on hard times. Marc Rzepczynski had a 7.84 ERA with the Cardinals in 2013 before he was acquired by the Tribe prior to the July 31 deadline. With the Indians, he posted a 0.89 ERA in 27 contests and struck out 20 in 20 1/3 innings.
Outman could help fortify a bullpen that is replacing closer Chris Perez with John Axford.
In addition to Perez, the Indians have also lost two of their most effective setup men in free agency.
Joe Smith signed with the Angels, and Matt Albers is now a member of the Astros.
Outman could help.
And maybe Shaun Marcum, who agreed to a minor-league deal with the Tribe on Monday, will be the next Scott Kazmir.
The Tribe's offseason hasn't been nearly as exciting as the 2012-13 version, but a key thing to remember is there are plenty of bargains to be had.
Just ask Francona, who has gone from one extreme (winning world championships with big-spending Boston) to the other (playing for a small-market team that, aside from last offseason, rarely makes a big free-agent splash).
“You have to go about the free-agent process a little bit differently,” the Indians' manager told me last week. “But there are teams that have done it pretty consistently — teams like Tampa and Oakland have gone head-to-head with the big boys and more than held their own. That's where we need to be.
You can follow me on Twitter for sports information, analysis and, early in 2014, an update on whether or not Ubaldo Jimenez has called Kyle Lohse for advice.

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